Responds to an article in the same issue. Sets Michael Leff's style of criticism in context by describing a taxonomy of critical methods, revealing its commitments and indicating its strengths and weaknesses. Argues that the dialectic Leff proposes with postmodernism is problematized by an incommensurability between that approach and his own…

Explores how a dyadic understanding of perception cancels the validity it might have as a model for the linguistic process. Discusses commonly misunderstood exhibits in the gallery of perception studies--the duck-rabbit and Magritte's pipe. (RS)

Challenges an ideology hidden within the history of rhetoric that privileges one form of the art over another--one approach moves outward toward the social world of public affairs, the other inward toward the center of the human soul. Recounts several "moments" in the creation, repression, and eventual recovery of a rhetoric of the…

Examines the complex relationship between rhetoric and order in the works of Kenneth Burke, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jacques Lacan. Argues for three differing, yet complementary, views of rhetoric and order, each having a corresponding epistemology and axiology. Concludes with an analysis of the construction of order in Thomas Hobbe's…

Concludes that the Rogerian rhetoric of Richard Young, Alton Becker, and Kenneth Pike (as presented in their book "Rhetoric: Discovery and Change") shows its age by not being quite the epistemic rhetoric contemporary rhetoricians have come to require. Argues that the Rogerian insights can still provide a focus for a reformed rhetoric of…

Explicates George Campbell's theory of persuasion as presented in his "Philosophy of Rhetoric." Suggests that what is truly striking about his theory of persuasion is its remarkable coherence, coherence that comes into view through attention to the three most important, related terms--the sentiments, passions, and dispositions. (CR)

Examines Kenneth Burke's recommendation that compositionists "return to inconclusiveness" at times. Develops a rhetoric of inconclusiveness through a personal narrative that draws on Burke's and Ross Winterowd's rhetorics. Juxtaposes a rhetoric of inconclusiveness to the rhetorics of certainty by F. Lentricchia and James A. Berlin.…

Examines the conflict between individualism and communitarianism (and its implications for rhetorical theory) by examining the historical debate between liberals and conservatives during and after the French Revolution. Shows how Richard Whately's notions of "presumption" and "burden of proof" (further developed by Mill and…

Casts new light on Nietzsche's thoughts on education by paying attention to his stance on language, noting that focusing on Nietzschean rhetoric yields a new level to the interpretation of one of his major educational texts, "On the Future of Our Educational Institutions." (SM)

Inventories the resources an examination of some key texts from the growing literature of postcolonial criticism make available for describing the activities of writing and reading from an "other" perspective. Assembles some useful materials for establishing the basic terms of a primer in postcolonial poetics, for devising a glossary of…

Explores the ways in which rhetorical scholars have embraced Mikhail Bakhtin as a rhetorical theorist in spite of the fact that he disdained rhetoric. Argues that the reception of Bakhtin suggests a pattern in rhetorical studies. Notes that it is dangerous to disregard the danger of rhetoric in pursuit of a higher status for rhetoric. (SG)

In their breakthrough anthology of women's rhetoric, "Available Means," Kate Ronald and Joy Ritchie presented the first comprehensive collection of women's rhetorical theory and practice from the third century B.C. to 2001. With that expansive gathering of women's rhetoric, they raised questions about gender, difference, and the rhetorical canon,…

The pharmaceutical industry's response to the threat of bioterrorism following 9-11 invoked the rhetorical notion of kairos as an urgent and ongoing opportunity not only to protect the nation but also to improve the industry's reputation and fortify its political power. Yet the notion of kairos as seizing an advantage--grounded in modernist…

So much has been written about feminism and composition that it may seem that there is little left to be said. But one question to ask is what scholars gain by keeping up the debate--that is, instead of asking how feminism relates to composition, what should be asked is why feminism insists on a relation to composition. A look at Elizabeth Flynn's…

Interest in the sophists has recently intensified among rhetorical theorists, culminating in the notion that rhetoric is epistemic. Epistemic rhetoric has its first and deepest roots in sophistic epistemological and rhetorical traditions, so that the view of rhetoric as epistemic is now being dubbed "neo-sophistic." In epistemic…